I would want to argue that Catherine (the elder, as
opposed to her daughter) likewise engages in acts of petty and vindictive revenge when
she doesn't get her own way. The best example of this comes after Heathcliff and Linton
fight over her, and she believes that nobody cares about her because of the way that
Linton only spends time in his library, so she determines to starve herself to death to
make both her husband and Heathcliff sorry for their actions. There is something
childish about this, but the way that Catherine proceeds and succeeds with her plan
shows that this is a highly self-absorbed act of revenge. Note what she says to Nelly
about her determination to make her husband and Heathcliff
suffer:
"Nelly, if it be not too late, as soon as I
learn how he feels, I'll choose between these two: eitehr to starve at once--that would
be no punishment unless he had a heart--or to recover, and leave the
country."
She then goes on to
say just a couple of paragraphs later, that "If I were only sure it would kill him...
I'd kill myself directly!" Her actions in starving herself are carried out in terms of
achieving revenge for the lack of care and love she feels slighted by. Heathcliff is
definitely not the only character who embarks on courses of
revenge.
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